Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-01-09

in Greenwich this vigorous man spoke
with all the force and huency Of young
lawyer, and with much better logic than
some of them are capable of. Yet he is
pinetv.four years old, and when asked
about his age replied: "Age! l never
think of it,"
That very active veteran, Mr.. Henry
B. Stanton, recently called attention In
the Sun to the death of the Rev. DIR.
Sbipman, father of Judge Shipman, OF
the United States District Court for this
district. Nobody ever thought OF the
dominic as old, for he was as jolly and
as active as a schoolboy, and he had a
laugh that was so hearty that none
could resist it. and keenly did he enjoy
Joke, and delighted was he If he was
himself the victim. His round, rosy,
merry face was to be seen in all winds
and weath hers, here, there, and every.
where In the State, for he was a constant
attendant upon meetings of religious
and educational societies. Yet he was
| almost ninety when he died, and he
never was IN old man.
There was that prodigy of learning
and industry, Caleb Gushing, sailing Oft
to Spain when he was past seventy;
talking French like q native at Geneva
when. according to the PsalMist, he
should have been in his grave; urging
with force and learning before the Su-
preme Court when he was approaching
eighty, working eighteen hours out OF
the twenty.four, His time did not come
until he was past eighty, and his fatal
illness found him in the harness..
There was knocked about an ocean
steamer on a recent stormy passage a
pleasant faced man with a long nose, o
bright eye, q winning smile and a
springy slep; gentleman who recently
resigned the presidency of Yale College
because he was "a years old. Yet he
had been jaunting about Europe this
summer without W wsariness, and has come
home to take up the work Of professor
in Yale. He is nearly 76, but Professor
Porter would never be thought of as an
old man. The splendid intellect of the
Rev. DR.. Leonard w. Bacon was not
dimmed until he was past so, and some
of the best work of his life was done in
the decade between 70 and so. There
was ex-President Wuolsey, at II, pub.
fishing works on economic subjects that
are accepted as authority, and there is
ex.President Hopkins, of Williams, well
on toward 80, but addressing audiences,
as recently at Des Moines, without the
slightest evidence OF the impairment of
| his great mental vigor.
In the year 1912 there began and con.
.inued in the House of Representatives
for two weeks q parliamentary battle
over the right of petition which has sci.
dom if ever been tqualed for the in
tense excitement, acri,nony, heated de-
bate and ingenious uses of parliamenta-
ry law made by each party to the con-
| troversy. The leader ON one side was a
man past eighty. They called him "The
| Old Man Eloquent" So far as quick
| ness of mind, resources Of intellect, and
the ability to use them we're concerned,
there was no man under fifty who ex-
celled him. He had been President of
the United States fifteen years before,
and he served as member OF the Low
er House for almost a generation of
years after he quilted the Presidency.
Death found him in harness, indeed, for
when almost ninety he was suddenly
smitten while at his seat in the House,
and died in an adjoining room. John
Quincy Adams had fullness of years, but
| he was never old.
Who is the veteran of the House to.
day? 1t is man whose activity is SO
great, whose fund of good stories is SO
inexhaustible and his glee in telling
them go hearty, whose step is SO quick,
and whose duties are SO energetically
performed that he is about the last man
with white hair who would be picked
out as the eldest man in the body. This
is John Turner Wait of Connecticut, and
hi years are almost seventy seven. but
his intellect is as keen as his body, as
vigorous as when he was fifty. He will
90 back to his old home in Norwich
when his term is ended, practice law
with vigor, and have all the fun he can
out OF life.
There was General Patterson Of Phil
adelphin who at eighty could outsit
any younger man at the dinner table,
and eat his share and smoke as many
cigars as the best of them. And what
quaint delightful stories he told, and
low erect was his body and firm his
step. Age! He knew it not; yet he
was almost ninety before he passed
away.
There is General Simon Cameron,
whose mind is as clear as crystal, who
not only calls memory that reaches far
away in the past to his service, but re-
veals the best test of unimpaired vigor,
the power to weigh the future. Gen.
eral Cameron is nearing ninety. but you
cannot call his mind old, for its vigor
is apparent to all who talk with him and
who near his thoughtful comments on
the is ues of the day. Nor can you
call the body of q man old who thinks
nothing of 1000 mile railway trip.
There is the leader of the Boston bar,
Mr.. Sidney Bartlett. He is past eighty,
but he charms the Supreme Court of his
State by his arguments still, and he
works with the assiduity of strong
mind and strong body.
Here is the junior Senator from Yer
mont, Mr.. Morrill,, publishing the other
day a book which he had leisure to
write, although he is chairman of the
most important committee of the Senate
that of Finance. Yet Mr.. Morrill, is
old enough to be Senator kdmunds'
father, and he works as faithfully as the
youngest of the Senators, and with all
the ardor and enthusiasm that we ex-
pect to find in the young statesman OF
forty or thereabOuts.
The best part of Benjamin Franklin's
life had only begun when he had past
seventy years of age, and he might have
been the grandfather of the sandy
haired young man whose draft of the
: Declaration of Independence he assisted
Jefferson to revise. That wonderful
genius of Franklin did not begin to di
minish until he was long past his eight
ieth year.
The other day the writer met Wig
orous.looking man who was busily en-
gagged in experimenting the loading of a
large vessel with produce for the New
York market. The man was as Keen
eyed as foorwalker; and as quick as
flash in his computations and adjust
| m an Ia Of accounts Vet when he had n